The cosmetic effect of tanned skin has long been a desired goal for many people. This desire has led to the development of a large and varied industry supplying compositions and devices to facilitate natural or UV radiation induced tanning of the skin. Another market has developed for compositions to more rapidly provide the visual effect of tanned skin without sun exposure. In addition to the development of the multitude of sun tanning, sun screening and artificial tanning and bronzing lotions, creams and oils now available, various applicator devices for the different compositions have been devised, ranging from simple squeeze bottles and pump sprays, to hand-held spray canisters similar to pump-style pesticide spray canisters, to elaborate spray rooms that generate mists of suntan lotions or artificial tanning compositions for application to a user standing in the room.
These various applicator devices include U.S. Pat. No. 1,982,509 to Frank showing a belt-driven carriage apparatus in a vertically oriented cabinet designed to carry, among several alternatives, a compressed air sprayer head and one or more reservoirs form liquid or powder compositions to be spray applied through the sprayer head to all or part of the body of a user standing in front of the apparatus. The '509 patent does not disclose the spray application of tanning compositions, and the single spray nozzle would necessarily result in an uneven application in overlap areas as the user turns for sequential sprayer passes, and/or missed areas under the arms or on the insides of the arms and legs. The belt driven carriage of the '509 patent is raised and lowered along a guide pole in the cabinet with the start and stop positions for the carriage and the activation of the sprayer apparatus being coordinated by a complicated set of electromechanical linkages and trip-switches.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,460,192 and 5,664,593, both to McClain, describe variations of an apparatus to coat a user's body up to the neck with suntan lotion or sunscreen. Both variations provide for a cylindrical enclosure in which the user stands with head and neck protruding through a hole in the top of the enclosure. The apparatus of the '192 patent provides for three liquid spray nozzles directed at the shoulder level, the waist level, and at the level of the legs, respectively. When activated by a user, the apparatus sprays a dose of suntan lotion or sunscreen while the user rotates while standing. Excess spray is drained through a grating at the base of the enclosure.
The apparatus of the '593 patent atomizes the lotion into a forced-air stream which then enters the enclosure through three ports at the level of the shoulder, the waist, and the legs, respectively. An evacuation fan draws air from within the enclosure through a vent close to the base of the enclosure, creating more air turbulence in the enclosure and also recirculating excess atomized lotion from the air in the enclosure back into the forced-air stream in an effort to more efficiently and more completely coat the user's body. The user's body must still rotate within the enclosure, while the user's neck protrudes through the close fitting hole in the top of the enclosure. The apparatus of the '593 patent also collects condensed over-spray from the recirculated air with the evacuation fan mechanism, as well as draining excess over-spray from the enclosure through a grating in the enclosure base.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,922,333 to Laughlin describes a method of applying a wide variety of fluids to the body, including sunless tanning compositions, by manually directing a spray nozzle at the area to be coated, or preferably, by atomizing the fluid into an air current and directing the air current against the person being coated, and collecting the residual spray through a venting system, preferably including a filtration means.
Another apparatus presently in the marketplace provides for a booth-type enclosure with a multiplicity of fixed spray nozzles at various heights in the corners of the booth. These fixed nozzles direct a spray of artificial tanning composition at the user standing in the center of the booth. Upon completion of a spray cycle, an evacuation fan evacuates residual spray from the booth through a filtered venting system.
These devices have major drawbacks including incomplete and/or streaky application of tanning composition, inefficient use of tanning composition, discomfort for the user, difficult or inadequate sanitation of the apparatus between uses, and, when specifically used with sunless tanning compositions, do not mitigate the unsightly over-staining of the feet and toes, which are significantly more susceptible to staining by such compositions compared to other areas of the skin. The prior spray booths do not provide for complete, uniform coating. Those spray apparatuses particularly adapted for use for the application of tanning compositions produce undesirable air currents within their enclosures and around the body of a user, which currents can inhibit efficient deposition of the atomized composition on the user. These devices produce swirling clouds of liquid-laden air, but the air currents generated tend to swirl around and bypass the user's. body with much of the composition being vented, drained, or deposited on the enclosing walls. The spray reaching the user's body in these prior apparatuses also tends to be subject to significant droplet coalescence adding to dripping and streaking. Thus the coatings tend to be uneven with either insufficient deposition of composition on the body and/or heavily coated areas resulting in uneven dripping and running of the composition down the body.